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Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times revisits Steve Hutchinson's departure from the Seahawks. O'Neil: "Tim Ruskell's future as Seattle's president is being weighed as he enters the final months of his contract with the Seahawks, and he will come eye-to-eye once again with the biggest mistake in his tenure when the Seahawks play at Hutchinson's Vikings on Sunday. Ruskell was not made available for comment on this story."

Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times says Ruskell will "almost certainly" get a two-year extension "because he drafted well in April and because he needs more than one year with (Jim) Mora." There's no question the team needs to stand behind Mora longer than one season. Replacing the GM would conceivably complicate things for Mora. "Almost certainly" is pretty strong wording with seven games remaining. I do expect the Seahawks' offense to gain momentum as the season progresses. Ruskell was hired largely to remake the defense. He has done that. Independent of any decision on Ruskell's future, the Seahawks need to see more from their defense down the stretch. Significant improvement on that side of the ball would make everyone -- well, not everyone, but more people -- feel better about moving forward with the current arrangement.

Clare Farnsworth of seahawks.com says the team is in search of a pass rush.

Also from Farnsworth: Justin Forsett and Louis Rankin will be getting the carries while Julius Jones sits out.

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer suggests former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren might have met with Browns ownership Tuesday. The story also suggests Holmgren lost his personnel power when Ruskell arrived for the 2005 season. That happened after the 2002 season. Bob Ferguson served as GM before Ruskell arrived. Holmgren held those powers for the 1999 through 2002 seasons.

Eric D. Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune says Forsett and Rankin livened up the Seattle ground game against Arizona.

John Morgan of Field Gulls says the Seahawks' Brandon Mebane is excellent off the snap before struggling to separate from blockers consistently.

Also from Morgan: He thinks Mebane might be better playing in Colin Cole's spot on the nose.

Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic says Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt spends Friday afternoons going through his offensive plan. Somers: "Two weeks ago, he was driving home from the office late and thought of a run-pass check that would work against the Bears. So he wouldn't forget, Whisenhunt immediately called passing-game coordinator Mike Miller. Whisenhunt declined to detail the scheme because the Cardinals might use it again, but it proved to be effective, he said."

Darren Urban of azcardinals.com says the NFL's decision to move back the Cardinals' kickoff against the Titans shows how far the team has come. Urban: "The Cardinals’ game this weekend against St. Louis is a late afternoon start – rather than the early start it’s been for years – because Fox needed for a game in that spot, and the Super Bowl runner-up Cards were attractive (and the side story of Kurt Warner returning to St. Louis doesn’t hurt). But that was decided before the season. Word came down Tuesday the Cardinals’ game the following week in Tennessee will also be shifted from an early (11 a.m. Arizona time) kickoff to later (2:15 p.m. Arizona time) to work with TV issues. It doesn’t mean the Cards-Titans game will suddenly be beamed everywhere, but there were a couple of other games Fox could have turned to for a later start but decided the Cards were worthy."

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says during a chat he cannot understand why the Rams keep only four wide receivers active on game days. I think it's because the team runs so few three-receiver personnel groups. The Rams pound the ball with fullback Mike Karney or a second tight end. In short, they do not have three receivers good enough to command playing time together regularly. Thomas: "It's mind-boggling to me. When it comes down to it, I think Spags wants that extra body for special teams. (And not many wide receivers do much on special teams unless they're returners.) But the Rams have been caught with only three receivers to finish a game on several occasions this season."

Also from Thomas: A local television blackout could loom in St. Louis even though Kurt Warner is returning to town. Thomas: "Last week, with half as many tickets to move, the Rams needed an extension of the Thursday blackout deadline and a promotion in which members of the military were given free tickets for every ticket sold during the week to meet sellout requirements and get the game televised on local TV."

More from Thomas: Rookie receiver Brandon Gibson is catching on quickly.

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee says Josh Morgan has supplanted Isaac Bruce in the 49ers' starting lineup. I guess I'd forgotten that hadn't happened already. The 49ers have been phasing out Bruce for a while. I'm not sure they would have brought him back if the team had known it would draft Michael Crabtree in the first round. Coach Mike Singletary: "I talked to Josh Morgan the other day and just let him know that I liked what he's doing. I like the progression. I just want to see it faster. I want to see, when Josh Morgan and Michael Crabtree line up, [the defense] has issues on both sides. It's not, 'We'll take away one, and deal with the lesser.' "

Matt Maiocco of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat says the 49ers are very pleased with what Barry Sims has provided at left tackle. They should be. He has held up well to this point.

Also from Maiocco: Bruce says he knew he was "holding a spot" for Morgan.

Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News quotes Alex Smith this way on the Aaron Rodgers comparisons: "I understand that we will forever be connected because of that. But I don't at all feel like I am competing with him in that sense. I am competing with him to win the game on Sunday."

John Crumpacker of the San Francisco Chronicle says two of the three interceptions Smith threw against the Titans were intended for Morgan.

Also from Crumpacker: Matt Wilhelm has shown enough to start at linebacker for the 49ers if Takeo Spikes cannot play.